Thune aide heads back downtown

Politico

15-05-2025

With Daniel Lippman
DIALYSIS GIANT ADDS THUNE STAFFER: Sarah Schmidt is returning to K Street to join kidney dialysis company Fresenius Medical Care as a vice president and head of federal government relations.
— Schmidt most recently served as the health policy director for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, and before that she led government affairs at Palantir and was a senior in-house lobbyist at CVS Health. She's also a Rob Portman and Michael Burgess alum.
— At Fresenius, Schmidt will succeed Laura Kemper, who left the company to join Jeffrey j. Kimbell & Associates earlier this year. Her hiring comes as Fresenius works to navigate the Trump administration's tariff policies, which prompted the dialysis giant to set up an internal tariff task force in March.
— The kidney dialysis industry has been seeking a legislative fix since a 2022 Supreme Court ruling permitting an employer-based health plan to offer only out-of-network coverage for dialysis services for patients with advanced kidney failure.
— Last year, the FTC began probing Fresenius and fellow dialysis giant DaVita for potential antitrust violations. And last week, a union health benefits plan filed a class action lawsuit that accused the two companies of obtaining an illegal duopoly over the dialysis industry.
ON THE AIRWAVES: A pair of advocacy groups is unleashing a wave of ads targeting the proposed Medicaid overhaul approved by House Republicans during their overnight markup this week. It's a preview of what lawmakers will be up against as they work to pass their party-line package of tax cuts, border security and domestic policy changes.
— The 150-year-old agriculture and rural group National Grange today rolled out a six-figure ad buy contrasting the plan advanced by Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee with President Donald Trump's vow earlier this year that safety net programs like Medicaid wouldn't be touched. The House plan includes new work Medicaid requirements, among other revisions in order to slash hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid spending.
— 'Congress needs to honor President Trump's commitment to Medicaid,' the group argues in a 30-second spot. The ad, which will run inside the Beltway as well as in several battleground states, highlights the number of rural Americans who depend on Medicaid and insinuates that cutting Medicaid spending will accelerate the closures and service cutbacks of rural hospitals across the country.
— Meanwhile, the hospital and patient advocacy group Coalition to Strengthen America's Healthcare is out with an ad this week that appears to be tied to the just-passed Mother's Day. The spot features a couple debating whether to put one partner's aging mother into a nursing home, where the ad says that more than 60 percent of seniors rely on Medicaid.
— The ad is part of a seven-figure ad blitz from the group — whose members include top hospital trade associations — aimed at spotlighting various Medicaid constituencies who could be affected by Medicaid cuts, including children and veterans. It will run on national cable outlets and online.
— Frontline Republicans have already been awash in attack ads by Democratic and outside groups over potential Medicaid cuts, though other outside organizations have started to come to the party's defense in recent weeks. But now that the GOP has finally unveiled its Medicaid blueprint — which has faced criticism from fiscal hawks — the ad blitzes are certain to ramp up.
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STRONG ARM OF THE LAW: 'GOP staff for the House Agriculture Committee is warning industry groups that they need to get behind the panel's megabill package of $300 billion in nutrition spending cuts or risk getting nothing from the $60 billion in farm bill investments also included in the proposal,' according to an email from the committee's policy director obtained by POLITICO's Grace Yarrow.
— The missive from Trevor White to agriculture lobbying groups encouraged them 'to make 'statements of support' and conduct 'direct outreach to members off the committee' to ensure that the farm bill programs survive the reconciliation process.'
— ''With the current budget environment, once this train leaves the station, if these investments are NOT included, it is hard to see a path forward for the remaining pieces of the farm bill,' White said in the email sent Tuesday that was viewed by POLITICO.'
— 'White's email also encouraged agriculture groups to reach out to lawmakers who aren't on the House Agriculture Committee to encourage them to support the measure's farm bill provisions,' and to report back on those efforts to the ag panel's staff. 'That pressure could be critical to helping those programs survive a full House vote, as some fiscal hawks typically vote against the major subsidies included in the farm bill.'
PARDON ME: Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) 'are asking the Trump administration to detail its interactions with crypto exchange Binance and billionaire founder Changpeng Zhao as he seeks a presidential pardon, the latest inquiry into potential conflicts of interest in the industry,' per the Wall Street Journal's Amrith Ramkumar.
— 'The Journal reported in March that Zhao had been seeking a pardon while representatives of President Trump's family held talks to invest in the U.S. arm of Binance. Zhao served four months in prison last year after pleading guilty to violating anti-money-laundering requirements. He said on a podcast for crypto enthusiasts that he had lawyers formally apply for a pardon.'
— 'Trump's Binance connections drew scrutiny when his family's crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, was part of a $2 billion investment into Binance made by a United Arab Emirates state-backed investor. The arrangement helped make World Liberty's dollar-pegged cryptocurrency among the largest in the world.'
— 'The convergence of Mr. Zhao's pardon application and Binance's financial entanglements with the president's family presents urgent concerns regarding the integrity of our justice system,' the senators wrote in their letter to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and White House counsel David Warrington.'
FLYING IN: The hunting rights group Safari Club International hit the Hill today for its first fly-in of Trump's second term, which follows Trump's visit to SCI's Washington office during the presidential campaign last year.
— Trump, whose eldest son, Don Jr., is an avid hunter, had a friendlier relationship with the hunting world than did President Joe Biden, who reversed Trump's rollbacks of certain Endangered Species Act protections and tightened rules for hunting on federal lands and hunting trophy imports.
— The American Exploration & Production Council is wrapping up a two-day fly-in today focused on issues like the Biden-era methane tax, tax treatment of intangible drilling costs, oil-and-gas development on federal lands and permitting reform. And Energy Marketers of America finished up its fly-in, which included more than 150 scheduled meetings with members and staff to discuss issues like hours of service waivers, swipe fees, Inflation Reduction Act subsidies, Congressional Review Act efforts and more.
— Also on the Hill this week were loss prevention officials with the National Retail Federation; the biotech, medtech and research coalition California Life Sciences; oncology and medical device company Novocure; the American Disability & Aging Alliance; the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America; the Alliance for Chemical Distribution; and instructors with Texas State University's Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center.
FORETELL ADDS 4: Foretell, the communications and public affairs firm started last year by Shopify alums Erin Pelton and Nicole Flotteron, has tripled its staff in recent months with four new hires.
— Bari Golin-Blaugrund has joined as a senior vice president from Actum. She's also a Cruise Lines International Association and Mercury alum. Jacqueline Policastro and Sabrina Siddiqui have joined as senior advisers. Policastro is the founder of Policastro Communications and is an American Hotel and Lodging Association alum, and Siddiqui was most recently at Vaulted Deep and is a Stand with Crypto, Meta, Treasury and Mazie Hirono alum. And Jennifer Min has joined from the Pentagon as a lead.
ANNALS OF CAMPAIGN FINANCE: 'Conservative donors have disputed hundreds of campaign contributions sent to Kari Lake, the former Arizona Senate candidate who is now helping Donald Trump dismantle Voice of America,' Matt Sledge reports for The Intercept.
— 'Even though Lake lost her bid to be a senator from Arizona in November, Federal Election Commission records show that she has continued to collect thousands of small-dollar donations through WinRed, the conservative counterpart to the liberal fundraising platform ActBlue.'
— 'Lake's donations have drawn what political consultants said is a high rate of chargebacks, a reversed charge initiated by a donor's bank after they dispute the transaction. Chargebacks are often considered a last-resort option for donors who can't secure refunds.'
— 'Lake, who once criticized a fellow Republican for a high rate of refunds, has drawn one chargeback for every seven donations in the first quarter of 2025, FEC records show. At a time when Trump is targeting ActBlue for a Justice Department investigation, critics said Lake's chargebacks serve as a red flag for potentially questionable fundraising tactics.'
SPOTTED on Wednesday at the Cyber Threat Alliance's Threat Intelligence Practitioners' Summit, per a tipster: acting CISA Director Bridget Bean, Michael Daniel of the Cyber Threat Alliance and Richard Evanchec of the FBI.
Jobs report
— Sarah Flaim is joining Forterra as head of congressional affairs. She was most recently a managing director at DCI Group and is a House Budget Committee, Kay Granger and Jeb Hensarling alum.
— Tim Locke has started Locke Lobbying Co., LLC. He spent the past 29 years at the Smith-Free Group, most recently as senior vice president.
— Topsoe has added Scott Shiller as head of U.S. federal affairs. Shiller previously served as vice president for congressional affairs at Ligado Networks and is a Trump NSC, Lee Zeldin and Billy Long alum.
— Molly Morrissey is joining Bracewell's Policy Resolution Group as a member of the strategic communications team. She was most recently media relations manager in DOE's Loan Programs Office and is a Tina Smith alum.
— Sarah Tellock is joining Acadia to lead federal government affairs. She previously served as the director of congressional affairs for the Alzheimer's Association and Alzheimer's Impact Movement.
— Chuck Burgess is joining the Herald Group as an EU-based strategic adviser. He previously served as president of Abernathy MacGregor (now H/Advisors Abernathy).
— Holland & Hart is adding Jennifer Scheller Neumann and Amelia Yowell as of counsel. Scheller Neumann previously was chief of DOJ's Environment and Natural Resources Division appellate section. Yowell previously was an appellate attorney in DOJ's Environment and Natural Resources Division.
— Matt Klapper will be a partner and co-chair of Jenner and Block's congressional investigations practice and global crisis management and strategic risk practice. He previously was chief of staff and senior counselor to former Attorney General Merrick Garland and is a Cory Booker alum.
— Michael Negron will be a senior fellow for economic opportunity at the Center for American Progress. He currently is a policy fellow at Groundwork Collaborative and is a Biden White House and Small Business Administration alum.
— Elizabeth Whitney Rubel will be head of business development at Paradox Public Relations. She previously was senior digital media executive at Hearst Digital Media.
New Joint Fundraisers
CAPITO VICTORY (Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, Wild and Wonderful PAC, NRSC)
New PACs
Bull Moose Institute PAC (PAC)
Center for AI Safety Action Fund PAC (CAIS AF PAC) (Hybrid PAC)
New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS
Chapman And Cutler LLP: Chamber Of Digital Commerce D/B/A The Digital Chamber
Chesapeake Enterprises: Chupacabra Ventures
Holland & Knight LLP: The Moinian Group
K&L Gates, LLP: American Council Of Engineering Companies, Inc.
Rising Tide Associates: General Plastics
The Vogel Group: Cofr Technologies, Inc.
The Vogel Group: Snorkel Ai Inc
Venn Strategies: Advocates For Community Health
Venn Strategies: Allianz
Venn Strategies: Forge Battery
Williams And Jensen, Pllc: World Dog Alliance (Hong Kong) Limited
Winning Strategies Washington: Technip Energies USa, Inc.
New Lobbying Terminations
None.